Budding poets create two acrostic poems, one for their name and another using a word of their choice. Over the course of five days, scholars compose, revise, publish, and share their work with their peers.

Students investigate how sound influences meaning in poetry by listening to sonnets. They write an analysis after listening to and reading sonnets.

Teach your English learners about theme through this found poem project. Class members read two versions of O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi": the original version and a synopsis. After learning about themes and connecting theme to their...

Explore with your class the purposes and author's intents for poetry titles. First you read several brief poems to the class and discuss how the authors may have chosen the titles. Then small groups read title-less poems posted around...

Models of and directions for how to write 20 different types of poems are featured in an NCTE resource. The introduction to each form highlights the embedded concepts. For example, tongue twisters encourage poets to use alliteration and...

In this Tanka poem worksheet, 6th graders analyze a Tanka poem for number of syllables and content parameters, then write one about a journey, real or imagined using the 6 step writing process.

Class members select a culture from a provided list and research the customs, beliefs, traditions, clothing, and environment of this group. They then create an idea web and craft this information into a poem. The instructional activity...

Use text marking and highlighting to explore the structure of a poem. After listening to Allan Ahlberg read "Please Mrs. Butler," learners locate stanzas and patterns on their copy of the poem using the text marking technique. Class...

If you are interested in having a basic framework for teaching expository, narrative, persuasive, and descriptive writing, this resource may help; however, you will have to find information on the different forms of writing to share with...

Twenty prompts, fifteen starters, and ten situations. What more could you ask for from a list of journal ideas?

Youngsters review nouns, adjectives and verbs. In this poetry instructional activity, readers choose a set of antonyms and create a list of synonyms, verbs and adjective for each. Students use the words to write a Diamante poem.

A great poem begins with an idea, an image, or an event that evokes a feeling. Middle schoolers read biographical information about Robert Frost and then identify details in three of his poems that reflect his life. Using suggestions...

What was the relationship like between George and Martha Washington? To protect their privacy, Martha Washington destroyed all her husband’s letters after his death so historians have little evidence of their lives together. Two letters...

It’s poetry T.I.M.E! Individuals use the T.I.M.E. format (T = Title, thought, and theme;  I = Imagery and figurative language; M = music and sound; E = emotion) to study a poet, collect poems that have a similar theme, and create a...

To focus attention on key concepts and vocabulary words in The Last Lecture, readers use power words drawn from the text to craft found poems.

Demonstrate gift giving as an act of caring about someone versus gifts for show (or gifts from the purse). Elementary learners practice giving gifts from the heart by creating a poem for someone special to them.

Explore poetry, personification, and multiple languages with a poetry reading and writing lesson. After the teacher reads the poem to the class, a discussion about personification follows. The class then writes a collaborative poem...

This, the fourth in a series of ten poetry writing activities, asks young poets to craft couplets.

Use folk tales as inspiration for learning about and using personification in creative writing. Learners brainstorm together in order to practice personification before writing their own poems or paragraphs about a household object.

Passport photos are notoriously unflattering but here's an activity that encourages youngsters to create a poetic picture of themselves using each category on the passport as a prompt for a poem.

A creative way bring autobiographical writing to your poetry unit or back-to-school curriculum, this lesson plan guides you through a bio poem activity. Kids use the graphic organizer to describe themselves using adjectives, things...

If you need a lesson for your poetry unit, use two poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ("Rain in Summer" and "The Slave in the Dismal Swamp") and a resource on Elements of Poetry. The lesson plan guides you through activities...

Regional dialect can make a lovely poem even more beautiful. After translating the Scots words in "A Red, Red Rose" into modern English, class members identify the two similes Robert Burns uses in his poem.

Poetry is a very personal and introspective art form. Give your class the opportunity to understand how a poet's voice can speak to them on a personal level, and that every reader can respond to an author differently. After a poetic...